School Districts Still Unsure of Funding

ODESSA- Believe it or not, school starts in six weeks and school districts still don't know exactly how much money they will have next year.

The budget, which cuts $4 billion from public education has been approved, but the process of applying it is not.

"Now there's the process of actually taking in what's written in these bills and transfer it and put it into a financial formula," ECISD Communication Director Mike Adkins said. "That's the part that remains undone at this point."

ECISD has already cut $17 million from their budget and they say they are in good shape.

"What we've heard is that they think they will do an across-the-board cut for all school districts next year, maybe somewhere in the area of six to eight percent," Adkins said. "We feel comfortable that it's positioned us well for the coming school year."

The school year after that, however, is a virtual unknown.

"The problem is we don't know beyond that," he said. "We don't know what we're looking at next summer because that's where the differences could life once the formula is put into place."

Adkins expects that formula to be passed down in the next couple of weeks.

"We have a lot of work to do in a short period of time," he said.

It's a waiting game at the mercy of the state legislature.

"We know probably at some point in the next two years, we are going to take a larger hit," Adkins said. "But we feel pretty good right now."